{"id":2021856,"date":"2023-09-05T01:34:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T05:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/military-should-apologize-to-members-kicked-out-for-refusing-covid-19-vaccine-gop-senate-candidate\/"},"modified":"2023-09-05T01:36:45","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T05:36:45","slug":"military-should-apologize-to-members-kicked-out-for-refusing-covid-19-vaccine-gop-senate-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/military-should-apologize-to-members-kicked-out-for-refusing-covid-19-vaccine-gop-senate-candidate\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Senate candidate demands military apologize to members expelled for refusing COVID-19 vaccine."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmilitary-should-apologize-to-members-kicked-out-for-refusing-covid-19-vaccine-gop-senate-candidate%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2021856&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<h2>Recruiting and Retention in the Military: A Call for Accountability<\/h2>\n<p>Recruiting and retention in the military will continue to suffer until there is accountability for the way the Pentagon handled the COVID-19 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/florida-lawmaker-moves-to-rename-highway-after-president-donald-j-trump\/\" title=\"Florida Lawmaker Moves to Rename Highway After President Donald J. Trump\">vaccine mandate<\/a>, according to former naval officer and Senate hopeful Hung Cao.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Cao, a retired Navy combat veteran of 25 years, is seeking the 2024 Republican nomination in Virginia to challenge Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine. Last year, he ran an unsuccessful bid for a blue-leaning northern Virginia\u2062 U.S.\u2063 House\u2063 seat. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a special\u2063 operations officer throughout his military career.<\/p>\n<p>He spoke\u200b to The Epoch Times about his concerns with military recruitment and &#8220;wokeness&#8221; in the military. The veteran credited his wife for encouraging him to continue to serve the \u200ccountry beyond an accomplished military \u200bcareer.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"border-comp-divider mb-4 mr-4 w-full max-w-[500px] border px-5 py-4 text-[16px] leading-[20px] text-[#262626] md:float-left\">\n<div class=\"mb-3 font-sans text-[16px] font-semibold uppercase leading-[19px] text-[#2F2F2F]\">Related Story<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/some-us-troops-will-still-have-to-get-covid-19-vaccine-pentagon-says-after-mandate-ends-5086067\">Some US\u2062 Troops Must Still Get COVID-19 Vaccine, Pentagon Says After Mandate Ends<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">2\/28\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/some-us-troops-will-still-have-to-get-covid-19-vaccine-pentagon-says-after-mandate-ends-5086067\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI have close friends that served in combat with me and now they\u2019re being called traitors for \u2063refusing to take the <strong>COVID-19<\/strong> vaccine,\u201d he said. Although Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin\u2019s August 2021 vaccine mandate was officially rescinded in January, thousands of service members were \u201ckicked \u2064out\u201d and\u2063 those\u2062 who remain in \u200dservice continue to be criticized for refusing to take an \u201cexperimental vaccine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed to a June\u2062 2022 leaked internal memo by the Pentagon\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senator-lisa-murkowski-draws-republican-primary-challenger\/\" title=\"Senator Lisa Murkowski Draws Republican Primary Challenger\">acting inspector general<\/a> that found \u201ca\u2064 trend of generalized assessments rather than the individualized \u2064assessment&#8221; required by law and\u2062 policies in the department&#8217;s denial of religious\u200d accommodation requests to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve left thousands behind in the \u2064streets because we didn\u2019t honor their religious exemption,\u201d Mr. Cao said, referencing the military&#8217;s well-known motto &#8220;no man left behind.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Cao said he&#8217;s heard many stories of\u200b service members who were separated from the military. \u201c[These are] sad stories of men and women who\u2019ve put their lives on the line \u2063for this country and we completely turned our backs on them,\u201d he said. Most of the careers of those who objected to the vaccine were \u201cside-lined\u201d\u2062 or destroyed, he\u200b said,<\/p>\n<h2>Recruitment Woes<\/h2>\n<p>Mr. Cao praised those who took a stand against the vaccine mandate, suggesting these are the kind of people the country needs in\u200b its military. \u201cInstead, we\u2019ve demonized\u200b them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is having\u2063 knock-on effects \u2063on younger generations, he said. Potential recruits are \u200cquestioning the decisions of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-pompeo-nukes-biden-in-response-to-biden-trying-to-blame-trump-for-afghanistan-debacle\/\" title=\"WATCH: Pompeo Nukes Biden In Response To Biden Trying To Blame Trump For Afghanistan Debacle\">senior military leadership<\/a>, from the \u200dchaotic Afghanistan withdrawal\u200c to the enforcement of\u2064 the \u2063COVID-19 vaccine mandate,\u2064 he added. Some\u200b parents are\u200c no longer encouraging their children to \u2063serve.<\/p>\n<p>He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/military-should-apologize-to-members-kicked-out-for-refusing-covid-19-vaccine-gop-senate-candidate\/\" title=\"GOP Senate candidate demands military apologize to members expelled for refusing COVID-19 vaccine.\">faults poor decision-making<\/a> by senior \u2064military leadership for dissuading \u201cthe best and the brightest\u201d from wanting to\u2064 serve their country<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former naval officer and Senate hopeful Hung Cao believes that accountability for the Pentagon&#8217;s handling of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate is crucial to improve recruiting and retention in the military. Seeking the 2024 Republican nomination in Virginia, Cao, a retired Navy combat veteran of 25 years, aims to challenge Democratic Sen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":2021857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2021856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}